Entertainment

Sound Check – Issue 13

Joe sat down with James – self professed Muso and Hamilton lover #1 – to discuss how he put on a gig in town to celebrate his birthday and the music that he loves; Rather than let culture be something that happens to him, he got stuck in and built it up

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Entertainment

What it takes to be a Genre: Desert Blues.  

Guitar driven, rolling beats. Quick looping drums, and jazz-like solos. Lyrics that float through your ears and reverberate in your brain. Northan and West Africa. Indigo blue tagelmust. Desert Blues music is mostly in their native language of Tamasheq, but understanding it is not so important as feeling it.   My first exposure

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Entertainment

Soundcheck – Issue 8 2026

Stepping up from four letter words  After a lot of suspense, June 12th 2026 is set to be the date for the release of Olivia Rodrigo’s third studio album, ‘you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love’.   In the past, she’s been known for titling her previous albums with four letters and no more;

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Columns

Bring back Radio alarm clocks.

I’ve spent the last 10 years of my life waking up to the dreaded sound of Apple’s radar alarm sound. Dididi-dididi- dididi-dididi DIDIDI-DIDIDI. And I never stopped to think about why. Why was I torturing myself this way every morning, letting this sonic harassment continue. I decided enough was enough. I’d had it. After literally 2 minutes on Facebook

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Entertainment

Soundcheck – Issue 6 2026

Album review Bri Louise   Pōneke based, Bri Louise, brings a calm gentleness to this Album; you can hear the smile in her voice and the love she has for those she sings about. With smooth jazz and R ‘n’ B notes, the Album was recorded live, with a ~20-piece support band/choir, giving it

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Entertainment

Soundcheck – Issue 5 2026

The Beths – gig Review  We’re in an old church-turned-music-venue, you can feel the lingering evangelical spirit whipping up the crowd into a holy fervour, worshiping the divine power that is The Beths. It’s hot as hell, packed to bursting with students and mid-30s day-one fans alike.  My friends and I manage to push almost

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Entertainment

YouTube live Concerts 

Are you too broke to go to live concerts? Do you live in an island nation that your favourite artist won’t ever come to? Or maybe they came to Aotearoa, but now it’s over and the post-concert depression is hitting too hard? Let me introduce you to the world of YouTube live concerts.   Music is at its most

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Entertainment

Who are we? What do we do? What is the deal? How do you get involved?

Nexus Soundcheck is the heart and soul of music journalism in Kirikiriroa. We want to be at every gig, reviewing every newly released album, and interviewing the best and most promising local talent. We’ll be in the mosh with you. We’ll be at the shitty open mic nights with you, and we’ll be with you at the merch table buying a CD withour last

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Features

Spooky Moons, Spooky Moods

It’s a windswept October’s night; a long howl echoes through the night, curling and searching its way through the misty streets. The clouds scud across the sky, flitting in and out of the shadows. Hanging in the sky, gazing over the world gone mad, sits a shining celestial body: the

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Columns

The Light in the Dark

Cue Beetoven, symphony No. 5.  Duuh duh duh duuhhh  Duh duh duh duuuuhhhhhhhh…   That’s the song I get when I’m standing in a gothic cathedral, staring up at the vaulted ceilings, stained glass windows shifting the light into colours not previously seen by mankind, the intricate details of every wall

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Conan Gray Concert

Conan Gray’s Wishbone Tour kicked off its last leg in Auckland over the previous weekend, and while it was a rocky show back, he brought all the noise to Spark Arena. Earlier in the day, Conan posted a story on his Instagram with an apology to the fans who would

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The Forgotten Side of Stoicism

If you’ve spent enough time on social media engaging with self-improvement content, you’ve probably encountered Stoicism at some point. This content is usually accompanied by marble busts of Marcus Aurelius, short-form gym content, and edgy quotes about discipline. The message is clear: don’t complain, don’t let your emotions control you,

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Folk-tales And Artistic Methods Of Framing Fear

Fairies have shrunk over the years both in size and scope. It was only from the 14th century and onwards that the term began to narrow in definition. Before that ‘fairie’ was used to describe a collection of different creatures such as gnomes, sprites, dryads, banshees and all manner of

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The Corporation that Conquered Nations 

When we think of the British conquest of India, we often imagine it as a series of red-coated British soldiers marching across the subcontinent, conquering India much in the same way as they did elsewhere in the world. We often talk of the British conquering India, but this phrase hides

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THE FINNISH LINE #3

Written by Martta Tikka About Rhythm / Rytmitajuttomuudesta Now that I’ve been in New Zealand for over three months, I’ve had to admit to myself that I’m a bad dancer. I blame my home country for that. I found out that Kiwis have this thing called Jump Jam. One of

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The Finnish Line 

Written by Martta Tikka  After a careful consideration I have come to the conclusion that Finnish people don’t feed each other nearly as often as they should. During these past weeks I’ve learnt just how easy it is to get people to show up if you promise you’re going to

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Doco Filmmaker Kez on Travel, People, and Stoke

Kieran Hodges, interviewed by Toby Brockelbank Toby interviews Kieran Hodges, Kez, who he’s been lucky enough to meet. Known in the local skate community for filming down in Palmy, Kez went from building film sets in the UK to travelling the world making documentaries. We discussed how skating relates to

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WHAT’S THE BUZZ CUZ? 

BEFORE THE MISSIONARIES MADE IT WEIRD  Let’s talk about sex. Yep, we’re going there. It’s actually kind of funny how surprised people can be when you tell them our tipuna were getting it on. As if sex arrived in Aotearoa post-colonisation or something.  Sex was already a pretty normal part

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He reo mo ake ake – A forever language.

Written By Kata Roberts I think back to a time when te reo Māori was being pushed out of our schools, our workplaces,and our everyday lives. I think back to 1972. I imagine standing there, among thousands of Māori, watching our voices make their way toParliament. I wonder what it

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MORE THAN A KETE 

The stories, skill and knowledge woven into raranga  Raranga has always been practical. Our tīpuna used what was around them to make the things they needed. Harakeke could become kete for carrying and storing things, muka could be used for clothing and cordage, and raranga was used to make whāriki

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Te Ao o te Kaituhi

Written By Nadia Solomon Kei te kōrero Māori koe? Kei te tuhi koe i te reo Māori? He maha ngā tūpono mōu.   Ka rongo pea koe ki te mahi o ngā kaiwhakamāori, he matua tērā mahi. Mā te mahi a ngā kaiwhakamāori, e whānui ai ngā mōhiotanga o ngā mea

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THE HEALING POTENTIAL OF OUR NATIVE FUNGI 

What happens when Māori research looks at healing through a different lens?  You might have looked at our $50 note and noticed the striking blue mushroom sitting beside Sir Āpirana Ngata. That mushroom is Entoloma hochstetteri, a native species found in Aotearoa.  It is more than just a cool design.

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Still Kickflipping in Gaza 

An Interview with Rajab Al-Reefi by Toby Brockelbank Nexus have been working on this interview since July as, “Communicating with the outside world is extremely

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MADE TO BE WORN 

Who decided Māori fashion was only for special occasions?  There is this idea that Māori clothing and adornment belong in a particular category: something traditional,

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50 Worst People of 2026 

50. Sydney Sweeney  Word count: 40 | Writer: Ruby  Another year, another offensive ad from everyone’s fourth favourite Euphoria cast member. She’s not supporting eugenics

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5 Worst Games of 2026

5. GTA 6 (covering our asses) – We’ve done this dance with Cyberpunk, Fallout 76, Starfield, Mighty No.9, Duke Nukem Forever, Concord… Wolverine…  4. Beast

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5 Best Games of 2026

5. GTA 6 (Pre-emptively) – 12 years in the oven, surely Rockstar can’t miss.  4. 007 First Light – It’s not Goldeneye, but it will

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5 Worst Movie of 2026

5. Moana – Homer waited 2700 years for his sailing epic to get a blockbuster live-action adaptation, Disney barely waited 10. Have some fucking patience. 

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5 Best Movies of 2026

5. Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma – Gillian Anderson as some weird lesbian horror fanatic and a transgender air vent? Sign me up! 

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5 Worst Trends of 2026

5. Calling things chic – Are your ballet flats and Brazil t-shirt really ‘chic’ or have you just succumbed to the illusion that your algorithm

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5 Best Trends of 2026

5. Imported cigarettes – 20 dollars for a pack of Marlboro golds? Uhm, yes please! Yummy!    4. Aura Farming Battles – At least they

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5 Worst Albums of 2026

5. Reality Awaits – The Strokes: This album is disappointment in a fucking CD case, we deserved better.   4. Music, Fashion, Film – Charli XCX:

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